Combing textile material



Jan. 1, 1929. I 1,697,491

W. BINNS -ET AL COMBING TEXTILE MATERIALS Filed May 21, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 1: 1 7;. 21 INVENJORS ATTORNEYS Jan. 1,1929.

V w. BINNS ET AL COMBING TEXTILE MATERIALS Filed May 21, 1928 I A'ITORNEYJ 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 I Jan. 1 1929.

' w. BINNS ETAL 169749l COMBING TEXTILE MATERIALS Filed May 21, 1928 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented Jan. 1, 1929.

hearse stares resent ear est @EELCE.

NILLIAIJI BINNS, OF CRANSTON, RHODE ISLAND, AND FRANK D. MASSACHUSETTS. i

CDMBING TEXTILE MATERIAL.

Application filed. May 21,

This invention relates to the combing of textile materials and has particular reference to combing out and separating fibrous materials of difierent lengths from stock comprising fibres of varying lengths.

The sorting of wool, for example, according to length and grade is now done manually by sorters who separate the raw wool in grades and lengths before it is washed, carded, prepared and combed. This manual separation is tedious and expens ve, and. while the experienced wool sorter is SillllCCl and adept, nevertheless, this manual method is too expensive to warrant the separation or the raw wool into more than a few distinct grades according to length, each ot which, however, also comprises fibres of different lengths. This is due to the fact that the. growth of wool is not uniform either in length or fineness, there being a large percentage of relatively short and fine fibres which grow nearest thehide of the sheep. Furthermore, the sorter cannot distinguish between perfect wools and certain inrerior wools which are apparently long of fibre but contain some invisible defect which causes the fibres to break during the carding, preparing or combing processes. One of these invisible detects appears in the form of a constriction in the wool fibre which is caused by sickness of the sheep or lack of sufi'icient water at some time during the wool-growing season. Accordingly, these fibres break when strained so that the finished sliver, instead of consisting of carefully selected long fibres, includes short or broken fibres which cause an inferior sliver. The manual separation method, therefore, is incomplete and inac equa t-e at best.

The raw wool, either as graded by the sorters or ungraded, is scoured, carded, prcpared and combed into a strand of clean, straight. fibres known as the top sliver, and

which contains fibres of all different lengthswhether sorted or unsorted, although the variation in length is found to a lesser degree in the sorted stock. This top sliver containing a fair percentage of short fibres is universally employed for ordinary spinning, but it does not make as smooth a yarn as fibres which are substantially the same length. If long fibre sliver were obtainable it could be snun to a much higher count than the ordinary top sliver containing long and short fibres, or the spinning machinery could be 1928. Serial NO. 279.349.

run at much greater speed. with correspondingly increased" production, because the long. fibres provide a much stronger yarn or thread.

Furthermore, due to manufacturing changes in the textile. industry, there is an increasing demand for short top, i. e., fibres whose maximum length does not exceed, say,- two and one-half inches, for example. This short top, is used in some forms of French made spinning machinery, and could be used in a similar way for blending with silk, arti-. fici-al silk or other fibres. These long and short fines have been obtainedheretofore. only by performing two combing operations, the first in which the long fibres areabstracted and the second in which the remaining short fibres are recombed and the vegg e, table matter and very short fibres removed therefrom in the form of noil,

It has been attempted without success to perform these two operations at one time, but, while the long fibres are removable, the shorter remaining fibres, which, are called robbings, are not a merchantable product since they contain so much vegetable and felted matter in the term of lumps and particles, known as nips, as to make an inferior product which is unsuited forv fine spinning unless recarded and recombed or merely recoinbed to obtain sliver stock in the manner described. 1

It is the principal; object of this invention to provide for the automatic and substzuri-v tially simultaneous separation during a single combing operation of the long, short and, intermediate length fibres from ordinary carded wool comprising fibres of all differ: out lengths. It is a further object of this invention to provide a machine'for accom plishing this function mechanically and automatically, whereby several top slivers are produced, each comprising fibres of substantially'the same length, but each sliver containing fibres of difierent length than the other slivers, the slivers composed oi the shorter fibres being of finer texture than those composedof the longer fibres. This graduation in fineness according tolength holds as a general rule except where the aforementioned interior long fibres are broken into shorter lengths because of defects therein, when the slivers composed of the shorter and finer fibres contain a few coarser fibres.

In accordance with these objects the invention consists in a combing machine which is preferably of the so-called Noble type in which the straightened carded fibre of various lengths, such as wool card sliver, is fed into the outer periphery of a large rotary comb circle having a number of rows of closelyspaced, needle-like vertical teeth, the teeth of the inner rows, being more closely spaced than those of the outer rows. The wool is advanced continuously between these teeth, being combed meanwhile, and the fringe projecting from the inner row of teeth is fed into one or more smaller comb circles rotating tangent to the inner peripheryof the large .comb circle on stationary shafts, and which also have several rows of vertical teeth, the teeth of the outer rows being more closely spaced than those of the inner rows. The inner and outer comb circles rotate in the same direction, and as they separate while rotating, a fringe of. combed wool projects beyond the adjacent rows of teeth of each comb circle, these teeth being most closely spaced.

These fringes of wool are composed of straight fibres of all different lengths, which are withdrawn by nip rolls placed substantially tangent to the inner periphery of the large comb circle and the outer periphery of the small comb circle or circles, and the wool abstracted by each set of nip rolls is combined into a single top sliver comprising fibres of all lengths. The small bits of vegetable or other foreign matter andthe very short fibres remain between the teeth of the small comb circles and are subsequently brushed out in the form ofnoil. Thus the product of the combing machine is a sliver composed of long, short and intermediate length fibres, of which the shorts average approximately twenty percent of the usual wool ca rd sliver, this percentage being no criterion, however, but merely illustrative.

When the wool passes through the carding and combing machines, the longer fibres pass through first with the shorter fibres following. Thus, in the fringe projecting beyond the edges of both the large and small comb circles, the longest fibres extend furthest and shortest fibres least, while the fibres of intermediate lengths extend according to their lengths.

In the in achine of this invention, which includes the mechanism described, a number of sets of nip rolls are so placed with respect to the wool fringes extending from the inner pcriphery of the large comb circle and the outer peripheries of the small comb circles that each set of nip rolls abstracts only fibres of a predetermined length from the fringes of these comb circles, the length of the fibres abstracted by each set of nip rolls being diiferent than that abstracted by the other sets of nip rolls. For example, if a long and short top sliver are desired, a set of nip rolls is placed tangent to of the small comb circles, but spaced a definite distance therefrom so that only the longer fibres, say from two to two and one-half and more inches in length, are engaged and abstracted thereby. These long fibres drawn from both the large and small comb circles are combined, temporarily slightly twisted together and conveyed as aself-supporting strand or sliver to the coiler which removes the twist and coils the sliver within a suitable container, or the like, as the finished long top sliver .ready for spinning after a finishing process.

he short fibres appear only in the fringe of the small comb circles in abstractable form, because the continuous feeding of the card wool around the outer periphery of the la rge comb circle advances substantially only the long fibres beyond the inner periphery as the fringe, while in the small comb circles the fibres are not advanced after being placed therein so that the fringe includes both the long and the short fibres. A second set of nip rolls is placed tangent to the outer peripheries of each of the small comb circles and behind the first set of niprolls which left the short fringe. The second sets of nip rolls therefore abstract the short fibres from the small comb circles. by these second sets of nip rolls of the small comb circles are combined and preferably given a slight twist, but these fibres are usually too short to form a continuously homogeneous sliver so that the sliver is not self-supporting but frequently breaks at thin points. The short top sliver is therefore supported as it is conveyed from the combing machine upon a novel device which includes a moving hand between which and a number of floating rollers the short sliver is supported in passing to the coiler. The coiler removes the twist and coils the sliver within a suitable contamer, or the like, as the finished short top sliver ready for spinning after a finishing operation. Obviously, other sets of nip rolls may be placed between the first and second sets of nip rolls adjacent the small comb circles, these other sets being placed closer to the outer peripheries of the circles than the first set of nip rolls in order to abstract fibres of an intermediate length in a similar way.

For a better understanding of the invention reference is ade to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view, partially diagrammatic, of the so-called Noble comb modified in accordance with this invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged portion of Fig. 1 showing the combing and separating action more clearly;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary side view of the These short fibres withdrawn 7 short top sliver conveying device as seen along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, with the sliver cordin machine added Fig. l illustrates a tuft of fibres of which the ordinary wool top sliver is composed;

Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate tufts of wool slivers produced by the machine of this invention;

Fig. 7 is an enlarged portion of Fig. 1 showing the fibre advancing and laying mechanism and 8 and 9 are sectional views taken along lines 8-8 and 9-9, respectively, of Fig. 7, showing the operation of the fibre advancing and laying mechanism.

In these drawings, numeral 10 designates v the large comb circle of the conventional Noble comb familiar to those skilled in the art, and which is adapted to rotate in a horizontal plane. As this invention is not concerned with all the details of 'thelloble comb, only such parts thereof as are necessary to the understanding of the present invention will be referred to. Within the compass of the large circle 10 are usually mounted two small comb circles 11 and 11' which rotate in the same direction as the large comb circle 10 and tangent to the inner periphery thereor about relatively fixed axes 12. Into the outer periphery of the large comb circle 10, carded wool sliver is fed as the sliver and the large comb circle rotate,'this feeding being per formed by so-called stationary humps placed at A, as seen in Figs. 1, 7 and 8, which draw out the card sliver as it passes over these humps so that when the hump is passed, pivoted plates l2 bear on the forcshortened sliver causing it to be pushed so as to extend over the teeth or the large and small comb circles. This is illustrated particularly in 8 in which the end 01 card sliver B is shown secured in the teeth. of large comb circle 10, so that when the hump A is reached, the card sliver B unrolls from its ball 43 as indicated by the arrow. The relatively heavy plate 44:, which moves with the large comb circle 10 and the card sliver B, is also lifted by the hump A, so that wnen the hump A is passed approximately at the point of tangency of circles 10 and 11, the weight of plate 44 pushes the card sliver B over the tops of the teeth of both large circle 10 and small circle 11, as

indicated in phantom inv 9, the direction of movement of the card sliver B being indicated by the arrow. \Vhile in it is position over the teeth of both comb circles, the card sliver B is then pushed down between the teeth of both comb circles by a dabb-ing brush 45 shown in Fig. 9, the conventional operating mechanism of which is not shown. As the large and small comb circles rotate away from each other at the point of ta-ngency the fibres which have been placed in the small comb circle are withdrawn "from the large comb circle and extend beyond the outer periphery of the small circle in the form of a fringe.

In the Noble comb. as now used the fringes appearing on the inner periphery of the large comb circle andontheouter peripheryoi the small comb circle are abstracted by nip rolls an d combined into a single top sliver which is coiled by suitable-mechanism into containers ready for the finishing operation preparatory to spinning. A tuft from such a top sliver is illustrated in Fig. 4 and contains both long and short fibres, the long, fibres usually being upwards of two to two and onehalf inches in length, and the short fibres being from threequarters to two to two and one-half inches in lengtl hus, a single principal product consisting oi atop sliver composed of both long and short fibres is produced by all known types of wool combs in universal use. A see- (mdary product, however, which'is called the noil, is removed from the small comb circles l1 and 11 by means of noil knives, not shown, and brushes 13 after the top sliver has been abstracted therefrom, this noil comprise ing small particles of very short fibres, vegetable or other foreign matter and-the like, and is used fer-textile manufacture on the woolen systems. v i

In the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, the large and'small comb circles 10 and ll -ll, respectively, are driven in the same direction in the manner described. The large comb circle 10 has a number of rows of needle-lilac teeth, the teeth or" theinnerrows being more closely spaced than the teeth of the outer rows, while the small comb circles 11 and 11 are provided with a fewer number of rows of teeth than the large comb'circle, the teeth of the outer rows being more closely spaced than the teeth of the inner rows. As described, the card sliver isplaced upon the teeth-of the large comb circle around its entire outer periphery, and as the large comb circle and the card sliver rotate, the card wool is advanced so as to projectthrough the finer teeth on the inner periphery of the large comb circle, this projecting wool including both the long and the short fibres which are abstracted by the small comb circle 11, leaving a fringe'ot' substantially onlylong fibres on the inner periphery of the comb circlc 10 as it and the small circle 11 rotate away :t'rom each other. When the small comb circle abstracts the long and short fibres from fibres, the long fibres projecting beyond the short fibres.

In order to remove the long fibre fringe projecting from the inner periphery of the large comb circle, we provide adjacent the inner periphery thereof a pair of nip rolls 14, which are j'n'eferably fluted axially and are driven in any well -known manner to rotate toward each other and away from the large comb circle as indicated by the arrows 40 in Fig. 2, and are set so that they will grip and withdraw only the fringe 15 of long fibres from the large comb circle. These nip rolls 14 are not placed directly tangent to the inner periphery of the large comb circle as in the Noble comb in universal use, but are spaced a sufficient distance therefrom so as .to leave the very narrow fringe 15 of shorter fibres projecting from the inner periphery of this circle, as shown in Fig. 2. These shorter fibres are subsequently raised with other fibres by the hump at A and pushed over the teeth of the large comb circle and next small comb circle and then placed in these comb circles by the dabbing brush in the manner described.

In order to convey these abstracted long fibres. from nip rolls 14, an endless belt 16 is passed around one of the nip rolls 14 so as to be driven thereby and around several spools 17 suitably journalled on the frame of the machine. Engaging the surface of endless belt 16 is another endless belt 18 passing around spools 19 and one of the nip rolls 20, mounted near the outer periphery of the small comb circle 11. It will be seen that the fib1es'21 abstracted by nip rolls 14 are carried between belts 16 and 18 in the direction indicated by the arrow 41 in Fig. 2. The nip rolls 20 are spaced at a distance from the outer periphery of the small comb circle 11 so as to engage and withdraw only the long fibres of the fringe 22 on the small comb circle 11. these long fibres projec n beyond the short fibres in the manner described and illustrated in Fig. 2.

The long fibres thus abstracted by nip rolls 20 are oined' to the other lo; which were abstracted by nip rolls 14, so as to form a sliver 28 of long fibres which is conveyed into funnel 24 rotated b a belt or .the. like so as to impart a slight twist to the sliver in order that the fibres thereof may be more-closely held so that the sliver strong fibres 21,

which is composed of a mixture of both long and short fibres and is the product of the ordinary wool combing machine in universal use. 7

The same process takes place at the opposite side of the machine, where nip rolls 14 remove long fibres 21 projecting asfringe 15 beyond the inner periphery of the large circle 10, these fibres then being carried between belts 16 and 18 to nip rolls 20 and there combined with the long fibres abstracted by nip rolls 20 from the fril'ige 22 projecting from the outer periphery of small circle 11. This leaves a very narrow fringe 15 of short fibres on the inner periphery of large circle 10, described above. These combined long fibres are then joined with sliver 23 in a second rotating funnel 25 which adds a slight temporary twist to the sliver 26 thus formed so that it becomes a self-supporting strand passing to the conventional coiler 27 which removes the temporary twist well coils the sliver. This top sliver'26 is composed of the longer fibres and maybe used for finer count spinning than the 0rdiany top sliver containing both long and short fibres, or the spinning machinery may be speeded up togreater production, because the long fibres make a much stronger and tinoother yarn and thread.

After the long fibres have been abstracted by nip rolls 20 from the original fringe of small comb circle 11, only the short fibres re main in the small comb circle and project as a fringe 28 a short distance beyond the outer periphery thereof, in the manner illustrated by Figs. 1 and 2. In order to abstract these short fibres, another set of nip rolls 29 is placed tangentto the outer periphery of the small comb circle 11. An endless belt 30 passes around one of the nip rolls 29 and around a spool 31 suitably journalled on the machine. These nip rolls 29 abstract the short fibres 32 which are conveyed to a rotating funnel 3-3, which imparts a slight temporary twist to the sliver 82 thus formed. These short fibres, however, do not form a homogeneous sliver, but one containing several thin points so that the sliver is not selfsupporting and frequently breaks if not supported. Accordingly, the slightly twisted sliver 32 as it emerges from funnel 233 is conveyed. upon an endless belt 34 to the cniler 35 which removes the tci'nporary twist as well as coils the sliver.

As shown in F ig. 3, this endless belt passes over pulleys 36, one of which is driven by any suitable means, not shown. In order to hold the short sliver 32 upon the belt 34 so that the belt may advance the same, a series of spaced rollers 37 engage the sliver 32 as it passes toward the coiler 35 upon belt 84. In order to prevent rollers 37 from injuring the sliver or causing it to break because of friction. these rollers are made floating by journailing them in large openings or slots 38 formed in side frames 39 as is illustrated in Fig. 3. The same operation takes place at the opposite side of the machine, i. e., at small circle 11' where nip rolls 29f abstract the short fibres therefrom so that they pass into rotating funnel 88 which twists them with the fibres abstracted from opposite small circle 11 into the sliver 32 which conveyed to coiler 35 in the manner described. After these short fibres have been abstracted from small comb circles 11 and 11, the noil, comprising very short fibres, vegetable and other foreign matter and the like, is removed from the teeth by noil knives, not shown, and noil brushes 13 in the usual way. Thus, small comb circles lland 11 are clean and ready for the reception of the long and short fibres in large comb circle 10 and additional fibres advanced thereto by the hump A and placed therein by the dabbing brushes inthe manner described.

It will be seen that by this invention the combing machine provides at least two distinct, different and very valuable products where only oneproduct was produced before, and from the same card sliver stock. This is done by a novel method of separating the long from the short fibres after they have been combed, but during a single combing operation. By distinguishing between the long and short fibres the'machine of this invention also compensates for and properly classifies the inferior fibres or fibres which may be broken when strained during the carding or preparing processes. Furthermore, because of the nature of wool, the short top sliver produced by the new machine is of finer texture as a whole than the long'top sliver produced thereby, thus producing an exceptionally soft and smooth short sliver and an exceptionally strong and smooth long sliver, each of which has a distinct advantage in the textile arts over theordinary top sliver composed of both While the invention and description thereof have been particularly directed to the Noble comb which is in widest use in this country, it is conceivable that the invention might be applied to different types of combs in a similar way, and therefore it is to be understood that the invention is susceptible of such broad applications as the scope thereof warrants.

We claim:

1. In a machine for combing and separating fibrous material according to length, the combination of a pair of adjacent combs, means for placing fibrous material jointly in said combs, mechanism for moving said combs relatively to each other to divide the material between them. this movement producing a fringe of long fibres projecting beyond the short fibres, means for abstractmg-onlythe long fibres, and means for abstracting only the short fibres. i

2. In a machine for combing and separating'fibrous material according to length, the combination of a pair of adjacent combs, means for placing fibrous material jointly in said combs, mechanism for moving said combs relatively to each other to divide the material between them, this movement producing a fringe of substantially only long fibres onone comb, and a fringe of long fibres projecting beyond short fibres on the second comb, means-for abstracting the long fibres from both combs,,and means'for abstracting the short fibres remaining on said second comb.

3. In a machine for combing and separating fibrous material according to length, the combination of a pair of adjacent combs, means for placing fibrous material jointly in said combs, mechanism for movingsaid combs relatively'to each other to divide the material between them, this movement producing a fringe of long fibres projecting beyond the shortfibres on one of the combs,mea'ns spaced beyond the short fibres for abstracting only the long fibres of said fringe, and means placed behind said first means for abstracting the 'shortfibres forming the remainder of the fringe! i. In a'ma'chine for combing and separating fibrous'material according to length, the combination of a comb, means for feeding n'iaterial thereto, a second comb placed adjacent said first comb so as to receive a portion of the material fed thereto, mechanism for moving said combs relatively to-each other whereby the material is divided between the two combs so'that the long fibres project further than the short fibres from at least one of said combs, means spaced from sald one comb-for abstracting only the lo'ng V fibres therefrom, and means adjacent said-one comb for abstracting only the shortfibres therefrom.

5. In amachine for combing and separating fibrous material according to length, the combination of a comb,'means for feeding material thereto, a second comb movingrelatively to said first combfor abstracting a portion of the material therefrom, said second comb having long-and short fibres proj ecting therefrom and leaving substantially only long fibres projecting from said first comb, means adjacent the first and second combs for abstracting only long fibres therefrom, and a second means for abstracting only short. fibres from the second comb.

6.111 a machine for combing and separating fibrous material according to length, the combination of a comb, mechanlsm for combing said material into said comb whereby the long fibres projectinglbeyond the short fibres, means spaced from said comb for ab.-

stracting only the long fibres therefrom, and means placed adjacent said comb for abstracting only the short fibres therefrom, and devices for forming said long and short fibres into separate strands of finished sliver.

7. In a machine for combing and separating fibrous material according to length, the

combination of two circular combs tangent to each other, means for feeding fibrous material to both combs at the point of tangency, mechanism for rotating said combs in the same direction whereby the material is divided between them, this division producing a fringe of long fibres projecting beyond the short fibres on said other comb, relatively stationary means spaced beyond the short fibres for abstracting the long fibres as said other comb rotates, and relatively stationary means for abstracting the short fibres remaining on said other comb as it rotates.

8. In a, machine for combing and separating fibrous material according to length, the combination of two circular combs tangent to each other, means for feeding fibrous material to both combs at the point. of tangency, mechanism for rotating said combs in the same direction whereby the material is divided between them, this division producing a fringe of long fibres on said one comb and a fringe of long fibres projecting beyond short fibres on said other comb, relatively stationary means for abstracting said long fibres from said one comb, relatively stationary means spaced beyond the short fibres for abstracting the long fibres from said other comb as it rotates, and relatively stationary means for abstracting the short fibres remaining on said other comb as it rotates.

9. In a machine for combing and separating fibrous material according to length, the combination of a pair of adjacent. combs, means for placing fibrous material jointly in said combs, mechanism for moving said combs relatively to each other to divide the material between them, this movement producing a fringe of long fibres projecting be yond the short fibres on one of the combs, means spaced beyond the short fibres for abstracting only the long fibres of said fringe, means placed behind said first means for abstracting the short fibres forming the remainder of the fringe, mechanism for forming the long fibres into a self-supporting strand, and a device for conveying the short fibres, said device including a belt for supvmaterial between them, this movement producing a. fringe of substantially only long fibres on one comb, and a fringe of long fibres projecting beyond short fibres on the second comb, means for abstracting the long fibres from both combs, means for abstracting the short fibres remainins on said second comb, mechanism for combining the long fibres abstracted by said first means into a selfsupporting strand, and a device for conveyat the point of tangency, said material being divided between the combs as they rotate from said point of tangency whereby a fringe of long fibres projecting beyond short fibres is formed on the small comb, means spaced different distances in said fringe for abstracting fibres of different lengths, and devices for forming the different length fibres abstracted into separate slivers. a

12. In a machine for combing and separating fibrous material according to length, the combination of a'large circular comb, a small circular comb adjacent the inner periphery of said large comb, means for rotating said combs in the same direction, means for feeding the materialto both combs substantially at the point of tangency, said material being divided between the combs as I they rotate from said point of tangency whereby a fringe of long fibres projecting beyond short fibres is formed on the small comb, and a fringe of long fibres formed on the large comb, means spaced beyond the short fibres of the small comb fringe for abstracting only long fibres therefrom, means behind said first means for abstracting the short fibres from the small comb, means adjacent the large comb for abstracting the said long fibres therefrom, a device for combining the long fibres abstracted from both combs into one separate sliver, and

a device for formingtheshort fibres abstracted from the small comb into a separate sliver.

13. In a machine for combing fibrous material, the combination of a comb, means for abstracting the fibres therefrom, means for forming said fibres into a continuous sliver,-

and a conveyor for said sliver, said conveyor including a belt, means for driving said belt, and a series of rollers spaced along said belt, said sliver being adapted to bev supported between the belt and rollers.

14. The method of combing and separating fibrous material according to length, which consists in combing said material in one operation into a fringe of long fibres projecting beyond the short fibres, abstracting only eezeei long fibres from the fringe beyond the ends of the short fibres, and then abstracting the remaining short fibres.

15. The method of combing and separating fibrous material according to length, which consists in placing the material between two combs, moving the combs away from each other to divide the material into a fringe of long fibres projecting beyond the short fibres on one of the combs, abstracting only the long fibres from the outer edge of the fringe, and abstracting the short fibres remaining in the fringe.

16. The method of combing and separating fibrous material according to length, which consists in feeding the material through two adjacent combs, moving one of the combs from the other to divide the mate- 'rial into fringes on each comb, the long fibres of the fringe on the moving comb extending beyond the short fibres, the fringe of the other comb comprising substantially only long fibres, abstracting the long fibres from said other comb and from the outer edge of the fringe of the moving comb, combining the long fibres from both combs, and separately abstracting the short fibres remaining on the moving comb.

In testimony whereof we affix our signatin-es.

NILLIAM BINNS. FRANK D. NEILL. 

